ANCIENT FOREST ALLIANCE CALLING FOR BAN ON EXPORT OF RAW LOGS TO CHINA

C-FAX 1070, October 27, 2010

B.C.'s new Minister of Forests, Mines, and Lands, Pat Bell, leaves tomorrow for a trip to China to talk lumber.

Not everyone though sees the potential business as good for our province. Co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, Ken Wu, sees problems ahead.

"He'll be embarking in the largest trade mission in B.C's history to China so far along with 30 industry representatives. We're calling on the B.C. Government to ban the export of old-growth wood and raw logs to China. Otherwise we're gonna be essentially losing our jobs and the quality of our environment."

China relied on Russian logs untill last year when Russia implemented a 80% tax on raw log exports to protect their own sawmilling sector.